CIVIL WAR IN WALES. The Heads of the present Greevances of the County of Glamorgan, Declaring the Cause of their late rising and taking up of Armes. Published for the sat…

the king: the lesser of two evils.

CIVIL WAR IN WALES. The Heads of the present Greevances of the County of Glamorgan, Declaring the Cause of their late rising and taking up of Armes. Published for the satisfaction of all other Counties of England and Wales, who groane under the same, or like burthens of Oppression and Tyrannie. Now exercised by that Arbitrarie Power and Authoritie, pretended to be derived from the two Houses of Parliament, throughout all His Majesties dominions (by those who stile themselves Committees) contrary to Justice, and the known Lawes of the Land. [London?], Printed in the Yeare 1647.

Small 4to. Disbound, pp. [2], 6, a little toned, but very clean and crisp.Very rare sle printing. In the summer of 1647 (one exisiting copy is known to be dated by hand July 1st) the war (which in the end killed a higher proportion of the British population than the First World War) had dragged on for almost five years and Parliament was gaining the upper hand, mainly by installing the County Committees, staffed by loyal men. These functionaries collected the taxes Parliament needed, rounded up horses and supplies for the army, and carried out any other commands Parliament sent out. This and the growing power of the army (and taxation for its maintenance) led to support for the Royalist cause and Charles I. This call to arms specifies the grievances against the Parliamentarian committees and denounces their brutality. The people rising up were not so much in favour of the king, but his rule was considered less unpleasant and burdensome than Parliament. And indeed in this pamphlet there is no Royalist propaganda or 'hail to the king' at all. It is an almost anarchist denounciation of arbitrary power in itself, its arrogance and aloofness.ESTC R201640, recording copies in the BL, National Library of Wales, Cardiff Central Library, the Bodleian and at Folger Shakespeare Library.